Award Winning Blog - Agitator

What Makes for Good Fundraising Copy?

At its core, it’s words. Google thinks an email is ‘good’ – meaning they don’t bury it in a spam or promotion or social folder – if it reads like something you’d get from a friend, something that sounds personal and involving based (in part) on the words used. And what about those “personal” and […]

Learn More April 22, 2020

Donor Preservation in the Pandemic

Each morning I start my coronavirus stay-at-home routine by making a list of the 10 things I’m grateful for that day. One of the items on today’s list: I’m grateful that I’m on the back nine holes of life. Although older age has its downsides when it comes to combatting Covid-19, it sure has benefits […]

Learn More April 20, 2020

Donor Advised Funds: Are You Missing Out?

A year ago in The $110 Billion Treasure Trove for Nonprofits the Agitator alerted readers to the immense potential of Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs). Here’s how Nick described this treasure trove: “Take a football field. Cover it to a depth of nine inches with $100 bills. That’s $110 billion.” Today, one year later, that amount has […]

Learn More April 17, 2020

Don’t Lead With Death

Questions about Planned Giving abound in the crisis climate of the coronavirus pandemic. Should we be communicating? Should we be asking? Pushing to get folks to make Will before the virus gets them? Some of these? All of these? None of these? By far the most helpful and thoughtful guide I’ve seen has just been published […]

Learn More April 15, 2020

Taking the Fundraising Temperature

Nobody really knows how this all will end. Nobody really knows what the ultimate effect on the endurance of donors and nonprofits will be. However, everybody–whether they admit it or not–is scared; some are even freaked-out.. What’s the pandemic’s effect on giving? If bad, how bad? Which organizations are helped; which harmed? Who’s most likely […]

Learn More April 13, 2020

How To Reduce Monthly Giving Cancellations & Build Supporter Relationships

The cancellations are here and more are coming. The biggest one-time uptick of monthly giving cancellations ever recorded just happened in the UK with a 41% increase in cancellation rates comparing March 2019 to March 2020. And while this uptick and curve will be more pronounced the further your mission is from the frontlines of […]

Learn More April 10, 2020